My two Tigers

[cdub]

Hi everybody.

Attached is a few pics of my two Tigers. I am new to owning salamanders. In fact, I never thought I would own any, but I found the black and yellow one a few months ago when I was fishing. I saw a few fisherman release it right before they left the lake and decided I would rescue it from the lake and from being some bass's lunch. Lucky for him (or her) the fish weren't biting that day. My little boy thought I brought home the coolest gift ever. He (my boy) named him Gremlin after the movie by the same name. I have to admit, I quickly became found of the little guy (or gal).

A few weeks later we were at Bass Pro shops and saw a few waterdogs. My boy thought Gremlin needed a friend so we purchased him and saved him from becoming a bass's meal. My boy named him toothless after the dragon on the movie how to train your dragon because he looked like that dragon with his gills. He finished metamorphosing a month ago and is now in a terrestrial tank (the third pic is him fully metamorphosed).

I got word of this site because "toothless" has not eaten anything since about 2 weeks before metamorphoses, meaning that it has been 6 weeks or so. In addition, ever since we put him in the terrestrial tank, he has just buried himself. He never comes out of his burrow and is really skinny now. I have dug him up a few times and tried to feed him, but he ignores the food and buries himself again. I don't know if he will make it too much longer. Gremlin on the other hand couldn't be more social; he walks out of his burrow whenever we are in the room and eats anything and everything we put in the cage including the crickets or nightcrawlers we try to feed toothless.

I really don't want toothless to die, but feel that I will dig him up one day and he will be dead. Has anyone had a similar experience? If so, is there anything I can do to encourage the little guy (or gal) to start eating?

A few more pieces of info - our terrestrial cage is about 40 gallons, we have 2 water dishes in there, we have coconut fiber that slopes from about 5 inches thick to about 1-2 inches thick, and the tank temperature varies from about a min of 58 degrees to about a max of 65 degrees. It is usually about 62 degrees.

Thanks, look forward to chatting with you all in the future.

 

[Greatwtehunter]

Welcome to the forum! Metamorphosis is hard on critters so it isn't out of the ordinary for some of them to not eat for a few weeks afterwards. With that being said, there are a few things you could try. Try adding the food to the tank right as you turn the lights out. Tiger salamanders are nocturnal by nature and are more likely to be out at this time looking for food. Continue with the crickets and night crawlers but you could also try seeding your tank with terrestrial isopods (rollie pollies, sow bugs) and smaller worms. That way they could pick at these whenever the opportunity arose.

 

[cdub]

Thanks, that's a great idea. I guess I'll know if he is eating if he appears to be fatter. Or I'll know if my other active tiger is eating all the food is he gets ridiculously obese.

I am hoping that the inactive one becomes as social as the active one, but won't be surprised if he stays underground nearly the entire time I have him.

Another quick question, is a terrestrial tank better than an aquatic tank? I went to the pet store and they had 2 tigers in a tank with about 1 inch of water, a gravel bottom, and several rocks and logs the tigers could climb up on. They tried to convince me that this is the best setup.

 

[Kaysie]

Adult tigers are strictly terrestrial (other than breeding). The pet store, like they often are, is keeping the tigers incorrectly. You will never find adult tigers in an aquatic setting, other than during breeding season.